I realize that my posts have been somewhat lacking in visuals lately. Therefore, this post will be mostly pictures. But first I will just shortly tell what's been going on. Yesterday I only had one class, but I ended up sitting around the lounge most of the day waiting for other people to be able to go somewhere. It got late in the day, so we only walked about a block or so to the 99 yen shop (even cheaper than the American equivalent, the Dollar Store). We mostly all bought some snacks. I tried to buy some cheese and pepperoni, but the cheese was kinda weird. But the pepperoni was just....indescribable. It was pepperoni, but it wasn't. As Haley said, "It tasted like the wrong part of the pig...maybe it was an entirely different animal. I don't know." Yes.
Then I went home, and after watching a new ep of Naruto, I played with Mayu a bit. I taught her how to do the American clapping game; the one I did with her was "Miss Mary Mack". Sara and Gracie will know that one. She really, really likes it. I get the feeling she is warming up to me. Meanwhile, okaasan kept making miso soup. She boiled the beans some more. But she says it has to ferment for six months before its ready! Amazing. So I certainly won't be able to taste it. Luckily, she has enough to last until then. Last night at dinner she made something called "karage" which is basically fried chicken. With it, we had vegetables, potato salad, rice and miso soup. And okaasan had me try some salt that tasted like..eggs! I didn't like it too much. If i want to taste eggs, I'll eat eggs, thank you very much. I told okaasan that the Japanese dinner is different than the American one. Okaasan said usually that there is one (small) meat plate, three vegetables, and rice (and miso). Very interesting.
In class today, I had a review test. Then we wrote a self-introduction in Reading/Writing (I am so sick of self-introductions. This should be the last one). Then Onna to Otoko, in which we discussed the meaning of the word "Gender". Bleh. We will see about this class.
Ok, enough talking, here's the pics! You know that you can click on them to make them bigger, right? And don't forget to comment/leave a tag.
Here are the beans that Okaasan is boiling for the miso.
Here is a picture of the street my house is on. An extensive, sprawling suburbia.
Here is the field that I pass on the way to the bus station. At the same time, everyday, the same old men play croquet.
Here is a snapshot of police training in action at the police academy that I pass everyday. They always are shouting stuff. I saw them doing anti-crowd training today.
Here's Mayu-chan!
Here's the bus station where I get the bus every morning.
Here's the apartments that I pass by on my way to the bus station. There are at least five of these complexes in a small area.
A look at the individual dinner plate setup.
A picture of the inside of the Japanese cafeteria. This is the last day Japanese people will be on campus, since today is the last day of final exams for them. You can see that they are busy using their cell phones and making sure they look fashionable all the time.
Here's the ramen I had for lunch!
And lastly, here's a video of my room so you all can see.
Here's just a short post to illustrate two very different types of encounters I've had.
The other day I was coming to school. I was walking on the sidewalk, and a very nicely dressed Japanese girl who was probably also a college student was walking in front of me. I was walking slightly faster than her, and I quickly caught up to her. But since the sidewalk was too narrow to easily pass her, I stayed about six steps behind her. Perhaps seeing my shadow, she risked a quick backward glance to see who was following her. Gasp! It was a fearsome foreigner! Oh noes! This girl IMMEDIATELY crossed the road without even looking for cars, and continued walking in the same direction on the other side of the sidewalk. I must say that I was slightly shocked. Am I really that scary?
That same day, I was walking back from school to catch the bus home. I turned a corner, and saw approaching me what some people would call a "bag lady". This lady clearly was kindy kooky, judging by her unkempt manner and style of dress. Immediately when she saw me, she came towards me. She put her hands up to her face and said something like, "Oh! Do you like Japan!" and I said yes. Then she said, "Oh! Your skin is so white and pure!" (it isn't). I stammered a thank you, and she continued raving about how beautiful I was. Then she kept saying I looked like someone called "Diana-sama" (suffix for royalty). I kept thinking, Who is Diana? Who is Diana? I made a confused face, and she got even more emphatic. Then she pulled in some old guy who was walking down the street, and asked him if i "don't look just like Diana-sama?" The guy clearly didn't know what the heck was going on, and just mumbled a "Ah, I wonder..." By this time I just wanted out, and so I bowed, quite literally, out of the situation. Heh-he...and because of this, I nearly missed my bus. Of course, it was only five minutes later that I realized Diana-sama was probably the late Princess Diana....and I don't look ANYTHING like her. But I told my Okaasan about it, and she thought I kinda did. Oh well.
Last night Okaasan began the tortuous process of making miso soup. It's a many step process that I don't quite understand. The night before, you must put beans in water and let them soak overnight. Then the next morning, she boiled something and put towels around it to keep it warm. At some point you add miso. I will take some pictures later of the whole process. It's interesting. Also, she made some bread using a bread machine. It reminded me of when Mom used to do that all the time. It was pretty good.
I make more and more leaps in understanding and being understood by my host family. I now begin to understand some of Otousan's speech, and Mayu pretty much understands what I say. To think that only four days ago I started living with them.
Today we went to get my Alien Registration card. But, I forgot my pictures!! So, okaasan took me to the nearest picture booth, and for about 6 bucks I got ID photos, which is much less than what I paid for them in America. BTW Dad, you were also wrong about the ethernet cable. I should have waited till I got here to buy one; they're only about 7 bucks. With the photos, my passport, and the form, the office was able to begin processing. But the card won't be reading until at least next week. The card is useful because you don't have to carry around your passport. Also, you need one in order to get a cellphone.
Lots of my friends are talking about getting a cellphone. At first I thought I wouldn't get one, but....I don't know. Certainly it would be useful, but is it worth the $120 it will cost? We'll see. But having a cellphone is most assuredly a part of this culture. Everyone has one, everyone's phone is amply decorated, and texting has become an art. Even more than America...
I think we are going to either go to Hirakata-shi today, or just walk around. Either way, today I only have one class so there's time to do something. As for the weekend, I asked my family to take me to DenDen Town (electronic HQ of Osaka). It will be fun, I'm sure.
Well, that's all for now. More information as events warrant.
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Well I've officially had all my classes now, which means the semester really has started. Now all the course overviews, examining the syllabus, and self-introductions are over, here comes the studying. I find that I'm already behind in Japanese Reading & Writing as compared with the rest of the class. I will have to do some extra studying to bring myself up to their level. Speaking is opposite - I find that I am slightly ahead of most of the class in that area. Well, at least I will know where to throw my energies. I could probably move up a level, but why make it that much harder for myself?
Mass Media in Japan is already turning out to be an interesting class. We took a look at Japanese newspapers today - did you know that the five major Japanese papers are also the top five most-widely-circulated newspapers in the world? Compare 14 million subscriptions for Asahi Shinbun with a measly 2 million for the New York Times. Japanese people just take their newspapers that seriously. In fact, that's what Otousan does after dinner - meticulously reads the paper. And each of the five major Japanese newspapers owns the five major Japanese commercial TV stations - a huge media monopoly. In any case, I know this course will be great and the professor too. However, Onna to Otoko didn't impress me. The topics covered are moderately interesting, but not enough to offset the mediocrity of the professor. I will take some time deliberating, but if I have to drop a class, that will be the one. We'll see...and of course, I have nearly zero interest in Art in the Kansai Area, but I have to take it to fulfill Colby's art requirement. It shouldnt' be so bad because we take four field trips throughout the semester to actually see what we're studying. The rest of the time though, I'm stuck in a dark classroom at 5 PM looking at slides....booooring.
Textbooks have been insanely cheap for the most part. They are all paperback compilations of various readings that each professor puts together, and the average cost per class is about $16. And the Reading/Writing textbook is free- the professor just gave it to us! I was very worried about the cost, but it looks like those worries were unfounded. It seems like almost free compared to the normal Colby cost of $500 per semester.
Last night I had a good night with my host family. I actually communicated with Mayu-chan just by myself, no okaasan necessary for interpretation. She likes to show me her sticker collection. She helped me do my Japanese homework (not really, just looking for something to start a convo about) and we talked about favorite foods, and we drew pictures together. I think she and Gracie would really get along. I showed her that video I took of Gracie at my birthday, and she said she would like to play with Gracie. Okaasan seemed pretty busy last night; she made salmon for dinner (such a tiny piece, and overcooked. Unfortunately, I am spoiled because of Mom's professionally cooked salmon), and there was a spinach-like vegetable (again, only a tiny amount), and a very strange cole slaw-like mixture of some thinly sliced root that she couldn't translate. Otousan did not eat with us; he came home very very late (about 9 PM). Mayu was also up late doing her homework, which her mother meticulously checks. Her mother also checks to make sure she practices her violin and piano for an hour each day.
Actually sleeping last night was a lot better. I made various improvisations, such as putting one of the blankets that's supposed to go over me, on top of the futon instead, thus providing extra padding between me and the floor. For the pillow, I took the chair pad as well as some of my sweatshirts and folded them up under it. In this fashion, I managed to get a decent sleep. Thank goodness for that.
Getting back and forth on the bus usually has not been a problem, though yesterday I left the house a bit late and was running to it. My legs are hurting a lot because of all the walking/running/going up stairs that I have been doing. I suppose that is a good thing. Tomorrow my bus pass finally becomes active, so I will no longer have to lose 220 yen each time. Tomorrow I will also get my alien registration card, and thus will no longer have to carry around a passport.
Ok I will make a better update tomorrow. There's also an interesting encounter on the street that I have to write about, but right now I have to catch the bus to go home. Ja ne!
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Well finally the day came - the day when I would meet my host family. I met them in a room on campus with an official interpreter to make sure both parties understood what was going on. My okaasan (mother) and my imouto (little sister) came to pick me up; otousan (father) was sleeping in the car. We went over basic rules, etc. It was kind of annoying that they spoke only to the translator and not to me, but they didn't know how much Japanese I knew/didn't know. Finally, I went with them to their car, and we picked up my luggage and went home. On the way, my okaasan took me to get a bus pass, since that's how I have to get back and forth from campus. Here was my first shock - in the States, I barely carry enough cash to buy a pack of gum. But here, its normal to carry around hundreds of dollars worth, apparently. My okaasan somehow expected me to have the $210 required to buy my bus pass, right then and there. Of course I didn't have it; instead, she bought it and I paid her back later.
Yikes! My first real money expenditure. But it was absolutely necessary - there's no other way I can get to school. Also included in that price was a temporary card, because my bus card won't go into effect until Thursday. But now that I paid for it, I intend to make the most of it. The bus pass is not only good from home to school, but all over the city. So I will be taking the bus a lot, I think. In fact, I intend to make an entire blog about the bus later.
Ok so I went home on the bus with my okaasan, who wanted to show me how to get back and forth from school. On the way we talked about various things, just getting-to-know kind of stuff. She told me that my Japanese was very good, although I know it's not. But she has hosted 8 foreign students so far, and of those 8 my Japanese is the best. At least that makes me feel a little better. We walked for about 15 mins in a suburb-type area, past aparment complexes, a police academy, and the ubiquitous construction projects. Finally, down a small side street full of swinging clotheslines, we arrived at the Shibata residence.
My first impression is - small and cold. I'm not exaggerating; this house is extremely small and old. It's hard to describe. It's old, with rust stains and cracked walls, but it's kept very neat. There are soo many things in each cupboard and drawer, but they are all kept in their place. Everything is small - a tiny dishwasher, a tiny washing machine, a tiny fridge. Its so different from American appliances and American homes. There is no central heating, of course - each room has its own floor heater which is on only when people are in the room. When you leave the room, you must turn it off. Thus the rest of the house is freezing, including my room.
My room is on the second floor, about 10x8 feet or so. (That may be really off, but I'm just estimating). There is a small desk and chair, and some bureaus, which are full of things already. That's it - I sleep on the hard wooden floor. Therefore I haven't slept very well these past few nights. If i thought the futon at school was bad, well, this is ten times worse. The pad between me and the floor is less than an inch think, and the pillow is very bad. Not to mention that when I wake up, I can see my own breath. That's how cold it is in the room, and the heater does absolutely nothing. Plus, before I go to sleep, I have to turn it off anyways. So I've abandoned my usual t-shirt and pants pajamas for a fleece and fuzzy socks when I go to bed. It helped, but still the hard floor is really tough. I suppose I'll get used to it...
So I got to know my host family. Otousan is a postal clerk, and is gone most of the time. He gets up at 6 and is gone by 7 AM, and doesn't come home until after 8 PM. So I don't see him much. But I know he likes music, since, like my own father, he must have some music on while eating. Also he's got quite a setup near the TV, as far as electronics go. He has a Japanese version of TiVo, and was able to copy DVDs with it quite easily, as far as I was able to determine. There is a device that hooks up to the DVR and copies the DVD to the hard disk of the DVR, and the DVR then burns it to a blank. Very interesting, and a much better way to do it than what I've been doing (if it actually works). Okaasan is a stay at home mom. She does everything in the house that needs doing (shopping, etc). Every morning she walks Mayu-chan to school at around 7:45, and picks her up (I assume). She also does things like craft class every Monday. Mayu is 9 years old, exactly one month older than Gracie (my own sister). She's pretty cute. The only one who speaks any English is the mom. At one time, she studied abroad in America. That's why she likes to host so many foreign students, and that's why she can speak some English. But I talk in Japanese as much as I can, although she often has to translate my Japanese so Mayu and otousan can understand. That's something I need to work on. I want to make my Japanese understandable to native Japanese, after all. But what's good is that I have plenty of opportunities to do so. Each night, as soon as I step through the door, is another chance to practice.
On Sunday night for dinner we had okonomiyaki - it's a vegetable pancake. Savory, not sweet. Basically, you mix up some batter and cabbage, and then put in some meat or whatever, then there's a special sauce. Okaasan cooks it in a central pot on the table, and everyone serves themselves. With every meal there is also rice, made in the rice cooker, and homemade miso soup. You can bet that I am excited to eat miso soup every meal. Okaasan doesn't put tofu in it, though. She likes to put lots of daikon (Japanese radish) instead. But it's still good. I tried lots of things the first night - natto being one of them. Natto is one of those notorious foods that every culture has; a traditional and traditionally disgusting favorite. Like haggis for the Scots, I think. But unlike haggis, lots of people here actually eat natto. Like my family. They eat lots of it, and so I was pressured to try it. It's actually just fermented soybeans, which doesn't sound so bad. But the texture is just....gross. Slimy and gross. So, no, I don't like it. I didn't pretend to like every Japanese food - I just like most of them. But I certainly won't have a problem eating okaasan's food. For drinks she makes green tea and then cools it in the fridge, so its basically iced tea. Or there's water.
Oh and I was wrong about Japanese people not wanting anything on their rice. They will dump anything on their rice. In one night I saw natto, kimchi, daikon, and various sauces/spices being put on rice. I tried this really good sea salt type stuff on the rice and it was really good. And for breakfast, okaasan said I can eat whatever is in the fridge, but I'm generally too afraid to touch anything in the fridge because it seems like it will all just topple over if I remove anything. Also, I don't know what alot of that stuff is. But luckily, okaasan showed me where the bread for toast is, and she bought me some cereal when I requested it. Acutally that was pretty funny - I asked for cereal, which is "se-ri-aru" in Japanese. But otousan thought I said CD-R, which would be "se-di-a-ru", or something like that. In any case, they are very similar. But it was an amusing mistake.
So we eat at 8, then Mayu goes to bed at 9, and Otousan goes into the ofuru (Japanese bath). Btw, I tried that too. Though I normally take a shower in the morning, and will continue to do so, I was so cold that first night that I went into the ofuro after Mayu and okaasan. This is how it works - you take off your clothes, then OUTSIDE the bath, you clean yourself with a handcloth and soap. Then, once you're sparkly clean, you may enter the bath. It's a very short but deep tub. Everyone uses the same water, since it costs so much to heat it. That's why you have to be clean before you go in, so the people after you can also have clean water. It's basically like a jacuzzi without chlorine. I'm glad I went into it, just for the experience, and to warm up. But I probably won't go in it again, since I like my morning showers.
I gave my okaasan and otousan the book about Connecticut that I bought, and they liked it. More looking at the pictures than anything else, but I tried to explain what each thing was. Some of those things, supposedly items that CT is famous for, I had never heard of. But I did my best. All in all, it was a successful present. Okaasan kept a japanese-english dictionary for reference. I tried to explain that I was half Jewish and half Christian. They had never heard of a Jewish person before! I didn't know how to BEGIN tackling that one. We'll get there, I expect. Mayu-chan likes have me play with the cat with her. Of course they have a cat, although I'm not a big cat person. I think he can tell, and he hates me too. The first night he scratched my arm all up. But oh well. Mayu also plays the violin and piano. She's quite good, waay better than me and her violin is better than Gracie. I think that's because she's already been playing for a while - they start them early here.
Here's Mayu playing the violin in the living room:
Ok I think that's all I have to say about my host family. My classes have started though, and that's a whole nother story. I think they will go well. As usual, I may have bitten off more than I can chew by taking 5 classes instead of 4. But there were just too many good ones to pass up. We'll see - I have the next two weeks to drop a class. If i do drop, it will probably be Reading and Writing Japanese, which promises to be difficult. But we'll see.
Here's the CAT, Jappi, curled up on top of the space heater:
Aggravating things: Not a napkin or paper towel in sight, anywhere! They have disappeared off the face of the earth, and thus my main means of preparing food on my own is also gone. Also, don't Japanese people ever spill food on themselves, albeit rarely?
Multiple redundancy - In order to buy a textbook, you must receive a coupon from your teacher, go to the ticket machine in the admin building and purchase a ticket for the price of the book, then go back to the CIE and present the ticket WITH the coupon in order to get the book. How ridiculous!
No wireless anywhere - and for that matter, I haven't been able to access the internet much. And just useful stuff, like looking up the nearest movie theater, I can't do! I guess it's because I don't know where to look, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to understand it.
Ok folks that's all for now. More information as events warrant.
Leave comments please! So far, I only know that Julia is reading. And don't forget to check out Haley's blog, haleyinjapan.blogspot.com. Ja ne!
Whoops I haven't made a post in a couple of days. So I guess this one had better be extra long to make up for it. Well, on Friday I got up and made it to campus for the homestay meeting just in time. The guy who's been giving the meetings is soo long-winded, I can't stand it. He just goes on and on and on about every little thing and makes me want to scream. But in any case, I did learn some important information about what you should expect from your host family and what your host family should expect from you. There are little things, like you can't put anything wet on tatami mats, because they'll rot. And there are the bigger things, like not taking showers in the morning - I can't do that!! I need my morning shower to wake me up. I hope they let me take showers in the morning instead of baths at night. But we'll see. I have yet to meet my family - I'll be meeting them in about two hours, and I am excited.
But I am not looking forward to the commute - 90 mins each day, an hour walking and half an hour on the bus. Sam and Haley are talking about getting bikes, but that scares me more. I really don't want to have to deal with bike laws, learning different traffic rules, etc. Riding a bike here can be scary - there's poles sticking up from the sidewalk, little room on the edge of the road, and that whole driving-on-the-other-side thing that would take a lot of getting used to. I'm not nearly confident enough to be able to do that. So, long commute, here we come.
Continuing on - after the homestay meeting, we went on the school-sponsored trip to Kyoto. They had us break up into small groups of 6 or 7. I went with Haley, Sam and her boyfriend Jake, a girl named Kate, and another guy whose name I can't remember. We had a student who had been at Kansai Gaidai before show us around. He showed us how to use the bus system to get from the university to the train station, and then we took a train to Kyoto. Bus is 220 yen and the train to Kyoto was 340 yen. Not too bad. But without our guides, we would have no idea where to get off in order to come out at the right place. I didn't even really know where we were going, but they decided to take us to Tourist Hotspot #1: Kyomizudera, or Temple of the Pure Water. But walking there was tough. We went thru Gion, the geisha district, but of course failed to see any geisha. It was kinda dead actually. Must have been the time of day. But i've been there before, when I went to Japan 3 years ago, and so it wasn't new to me. But we continued on, passing many smaller temples on the way. One of them had a big Buddha in it, and I managed to snap a picture. Finally we made it to Kyomizudera. I took some video, mostly of the walk up to get to the place.
It's on a hill, and that means stairs. MANY stairs. I felt like i was doing a marathon. I suppose its good for me, but my feet felt like they were going to fall off. At teh top, you come to the multiple spires of the Chinese-style construction of most Buddhist temples. It's a pretty big, impressive place - very old, wooden, got lots of statues and bells and antique-y things.
We wandered around, but it was getting cold and dark, so we began our long descent back to the train station. On the way I bought some mochi- Kyoto style, triangular. But i was tired and cold and hungry and not much interested in staying around Kyoto.
You may be able to tell that I was not very impressed. The problem is, when I was here 3 years ago I saw all that stuff - each day on the tour we managed to see at least three places of historical interest. I saw so many temples that I would be glad to never see another one again. But here I am, seeing temples again, and being in some of the exact same spots I was before. This stuff is no longer exciting to me. Everyone else may have been excited, but I was just ho-hum. I'll be far more excited when I find myself in Akihabara or Harajuku or DenDen town in Osaka. That's the Japan I love - the modern, fast-paced center of style and technology. Not the old Japan of temples and nature. Others will of course disagree with me, and that's their perogative.
We took the train back to Hirakata-shi and ate at a place near the station. It was all you can eat nabe (hot pot) for 15 bucks, which so far is the steepest price i've paid for a meal in Japan. But, its all you can eat. Eating nabe is also an experience. There's an electrice stove in the middle of the table, upon which the waitresses put a bowl filled with water. Then they come out with plates of vegetables, raw meat, dumplings, whatever you want. You throw it all in the pot, and wait till the water gets hot and it cooks. Then, with chopsticks or a strainer, you fish out what you want and put it in your small individual bowl. There's all kinds of sauces to put on it for flavoring as well. It's all you can eat, so you just keep pressing the call button and ordering more stuff to dump in. Finally we finished and got on the bus and went home.
Both Haley and Sam went to their host families on Saturday, so I had no one to hang out with and nothing to do. I was very tired from Kyoto and wanted, above all, NOT to walk anywhere. But, when you've got to buy your own food, you have to go somewhere. I'm so used to having a cafeteria two steps away, or at least some food in my room that I can eat when I don't want to go anywhere. But here I have not that luxury. So at around 5 pm I roused myself and went out the door in search of food. I found a small grocery store about 10 mins walk from the dorm. It surprised me how busy it was at that time - do Japanese people wait till after dark to do their shopping? But I took my time in looking around, for there was many things to look at.
Not knowing what half the stuff is puts a damper on things, but there are some things that I readily recognized. I was able to get ready-made sushi and tempura for under 500 yen, and I consider that splurging. I wanted something other than instant noodles, which I've been having all week. But you can get one, a whole dinner's worth, for only a dollar. There are also many snacks that you can get for a dollar. They have entire sections of the store which are like a tiny dollar-store. Except here the magic price is 105 yen - that's 5 yen for tax. And considering that the dollar is worth ~120 yen, its' a deal. I think I've figured it out - Japan truly is expensive. However, you can eat cheap if you want to. If you can survive on instant food and pre-packaged snacks, you can save a lot of bucks. However, if you want to do your own homecooking, you've got to buy raw veggies, fruits, meat and eggs, and those are VERY expensive. Melons can go for ~$15 apiece here, and as to everything else - if you add one or two dollars to the american price for produce, you'll get the Japanese price. So, I am lucky so far. I won't be cooking anything, and soon I'll be getting breakfasts and dinners for free from my host family.
I went back along the road, avoiding bikes and mopeds and cars along the way. Its very awkward, you know, trying to pick a path among so many moving things. Did you know there's a cultural taboo against eating or drinking while you walk? It's getting a lot more lenient, but still its strange. I went back to my room and ate while marathoning Kamisama Kizoku (anime) and finishing it too. This morning I moved out of the room while my roommates were still sleeping. Had to move all my suitcases down by myself, as well as all the bedding to be cleaned. Then I watched Anpanman for an hour (equate it to Bugs Bunny). Now I'm just waiting to meet my host family. That'll be an adventure in of itself.
Well, goodbye dorm room. Goodbye heated toilet seats and showers in which you have to push a button every 10 seconds to make the water come out. I'll miss you - or maybe I won't, depending on what my host family's house is like. More information as events warrant.
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